


Malfunction

by I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Control Chip Horror, Deathfic, Gen, Knight Ahsoka, Mind Control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:55:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23952670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning/pseuds/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning
Summary: A Fives' Arc AU where instead of Tiplar, it's Obi-Wan.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 39
Kudos: 328





	Malfunction

**Author's Note:**

> A request from tumblr.
> 
> Coalmine301: “What if instead of Tup shooting General Tiplar when his chip went off it was Obi-Wan?"

Tup paused, his brothers surging forward past him. Something felt... different. His head felt... fuzzy.

“Tup! Hey, this is not the time to freeze up,” Fives barked. “Pull it together. We're almost to the finish line!”

_He's right._ They had a job to do. Tup hit his helmet, hoping to clear his head. He'd just started forward again when he caught sight of General Kenobi.

Light seemed to tunnel, the edges of his vision going dim. Was he going to pass out?

He ripped his helmet off, but his vision didn't clear. All he could see was the Jedi. The— the— traitor—

“Good soldiers follow orders,” Tup asserted, all doubt and confusion wiped away and replaced with a singular mission.

Tup pointed his blaster at the ceiling— that was important, don't aim until the last minute, traitors might _sense_ it otherwise— and walked straight for him.

_Good soldiers. Follow orders._ Simplest thing in the world. It felt  _good,_ erased all fear.

“Hey, Tup!” CT-5555 called, sounding far away. It was unimportant.

Tup was close, now. Point blank range from behind. The Jedi perhaps sensed something because he turned his head to look at Tup, while his saber kept deflecting bolts from the droids. A question, no alarm in those eyes.

The eyes stared uncomprehendingly up the muzzle of Tup’s blaster for a microsecond, then went wide even as Tup pulled the trigger.

“Tup,  _no!_ ” Fives screamed.

One single blast was all it took, catching the Jedi full in the back and throwing him forwards even as he tried to bring his saber to block.

Another scream joined Fives’, voiced by General Skywalker.  _“Obi-Wan!”_

Tup shuddered and gripped his head. Something was... wrong.

He smashed into the floor as Fives tackled him, twisting Tup’s right arm behind his back, and bracing a vambrace against Tup’s throat.

* * *

Ahsoka saw Obi-Wan fall, felt like the world had stopped. Except it hadn't. The droids pressed their attack, but Anakin was sitting on the floor, Obi-Wan cradled in his arms.

They were about to be overrun.

“We've lost our momentum!” Ahsoka shouted, taking charge. “Fall back! Fives, I don't know what's going on, but you are responsible for Tup now. Get him back to base, I want  _answers_ !” She was about to wade through the chaos to try to alert Anakin, but he must have heard her.

He stood, Obi-Wan draped over his arms, and retreated with the rest of them.

* * *

It hurt. Each of Anakin's footsteps reverberated up through Obi-Wan's wound. Obi-Wan clenched his fist in Anakin's tunics, struggling to breathe through the pain.

Had Qui-Gon experienced this much pain in death?

But something...

_A trooper shot me._ “Why?” He found himself repeating the question, bewildered.

Had he done something to Tup? Something he just couldn't remember? Was this revenge for something? What was he dying for? It hadn't looked like an accident—

“Hang in there,” Anakin commanded. “We're almost to Kix.”

_It's not going to matter._ Obi-Wan could feel life slipping away from him even as he tried to cling to it. “I'm sorry,” he wheezed, “I never meant to leave you so soon—”

“You  _won't._ ”

Except...

Obi-Wan could feel death approaching.

It looked like Qui-Gon.

Obi-Wan shuddered, his hands going numb, the wound still horrific in its pain. He tried to speak, to say goodbye, but he couldn't find the air, and he couldn't unlock his jaw. He tried to embrace Anakin in the Force as he felt their bond unraveling.

Maybe Anakin felt it. Anakin certainly tried to grab the vanishing ends of threads, but Obi-Wan slipped through his fingers, falling to drift far away.

He felt cold.

For a moment he felt utterly alone, and then he felt nothing.

* * *

“Kix!” Anakin yelled, setting Obi-Wan down on the floor. “He's not breathing!”

Ahsoka watched, her heart breaking for Anakin as Kix tried every method they had to revive Obi-Wan.

Commotion nearby drew her away. They had to fortify the room, keep the droids at bay while Anakin and Kix fought to bring Obi-Wan back.

Once assured their position would hold, Ahsoka turned to the knot of clones in the corner. “How is he doing, Rex?”

“I'm... not sure, General Tano. It seems like he just snapped. Tup. Can you hear me?”

Tup sat on a crate, arms bound behind him and head hung. He roused, just a little. “Yes, Captain.”

“What happened?” Rex demanded.

Tup looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“Do you have any idea what you've done?” Rex's voice shook.

A terrible cry of despair burst up in the Force from Ahsoka's former master. Ahsoka closed her eyes and bowed her head.  _He is gone, then._

She looked up again, found Tup’s head lolling back, eyes rolled up and flicking side to side. “Good soldiers follow orders. Good soldiers follow orders. Good soldiers follow orders. Good soldiers follow—”

“What is he talking about?” Ahsoka asked, voice subdued.

Rex pulled off his helmet, his expression that of a man trapped in a nightmare. “I have no idea.”

Tup’s eyes shifted to Ahsoka, making eye contact.

“Kill Jedi,” Tup announced, then launched forward, screaming wordlessly, fixated on Ahsoka.

She caught him with the Force and held him back, shocked by his driving need to kill her. Without a weapon, without his hands— what did he intend to do? Tackle her with his body and attack her jugular with his teeth?

“We have to get him back to the medical bay before he hurts anyone else.” Ahsoka tore her gaze away just long enough to look at where Anakin knelt, almost catatonic beside Obi-Wan's... corpse. She nodded, knowing her first priority was to regroup. “Let's go.”

Tup struggled against her invisible hold, foaming at the mouth and dragging ragged gasps of air in his lungs. She hadn't constricted his airways.

Ahsoka let Fives take control of Tup again, and returned to Anakin's side. She reached out, closed Obi-Wan's eyelids, her heart aching.  _Farewell, Master Obi-Wan. May the Force embrace you and grant you peace._

Ahsoka crouched beside Anakin and placed a hand on his arm. Moving stiff and slow, Anakin turned his head to look at her. Every blood vessel in his eyes had ruptured, turning the whites red. The bruising continued beneath his eyes, purple mottling down his cheeks.

Ahsoka helped him to his feet, but when Kix brought up a hover stretcher to transport the body, Anakin pushed it away. He gathered his fallen master with infinite tenderness in his arms, making sure Obi-Wan's head leaned against his chest instead of hanging back limp, and then turned to follow Ahsoka.

The empty, lost look in his eyes said Ahsoka would have to keep her temporary command of the operation.

* * *

Anakin stood near the door, arms crossed, silent. Ahsoka stood near him, not so much out of concern for what he might do, as to try to keep out of sight of Tup.

“Fives...” Tup’s voice sounded small and scared as he realized he was restrained to a medical bed. “What's happening to me?”

Fives shivered. “You... don't remember?”

“No.”

“You murdered General Kenobi,” Fives stated.

A tremor passed through Anakin.

The Force around Tup began to churn with disbelief and dread. “What? No. That's not possible. I— I— I— would never— I could never!” He began to struggle, overwhelmed by fear and horror.

“Tup...” Fives murmured, “you did.”

“I don't... I don't understand.  _How_ could this happen? What's happening to me, Fives?  _Fives_ ?”

Anakin shoved away from the wall and stormed out of the room. Ahsoka followed, making sure the door closed behind them.

“He has to go to Kamino. Maybe it's an infection, the Separatists made him do it. I don't understand. I know Tup. He thinks the world of Obi-Wan. He's not a traitor, he's not like Slick. Ahsoka, he's gone. He's gone, Ahsoka. I can't. I  _can't_ —” a sob ripped up from Anakin's throat and his legs dropped out from under him. He ended up sitting on the floor in the middle of the hall, weeping.

Ahsoka sat beside him, pulled him into a hug, and allowed herself to cry too.


End file.
